The Camel's Back
by Michael Weyer
Summary: Every monarch has his breaking point...


**The Camel's Back**

**By Michael Weyer**

**I don't own Marvel Comics or its characters. I suppose this can be a tribute to one of my favorite authors, Adrian Tullberg as his style inspired this while the idea hit me suddenly. All comments welcomed.**

I consider myself a reasonable man. I know my past may say otherwise and I acknowledge my….temper has gotten out of hand at times. But considering all that my realm has been through, I believe I have been more than understanding.

I put the blame on myself partly. On the years I spent an amnesiac wandering the filthy streets of New York while the oil industry took hold. Had I been myself, been in control of Atlantis, I can assure you the free reign of drilling in the oceans would never had become so widespread.

However, I recognize the need your surfacers have for such a commodity. Just as I recognize the pathetic trait of making your waste someone else's problem. We have been putting up with your discarded trash for centuries. Ever since you mastered sailing, you have been dumping your waste upon us. You changed what was once a pristine paradise into a world of corruption and filth.

As above, so below.

I have fought you and beside you. I recognize you have a place in this world, as we do in ours. My desire to conquer your surface world has abated as what need would we have for oxygen or cities of metal or those heinously noisy automobiles you love so much? We are content to let you bicker among yourselves and if you wipe each other out, all the better for us. I recognize your stupidity and your greed and I have done my best to make allowances for that.

But this, to borrow your phrase, is the straw that breaks the camel's back.

Millions of galleons of oil unleashed upon the seas by what you so charmingly call "human error." A simple missed switch, one worker failing to do an obvious job and you wreak one of the greatest crimes of pollution in history upon us. That, in and of itself, would be more than sufficient for me to do what I am doing.

But you compound it through incompetence so vast, it staggers the imagination. The owners of this company, men whose wealth exceeds many, seem to believe it too much to spend a pittance of their earnings to clean the mess they created. Their CEO is off yachting as the disaster unfolds. Politicians are more interested in assigning blame or covering themselves than to actually aid the oceans and those affected. Your President seems unable to do anything with authority but then, neither does anyone else in your government.

I am not blaming the human race entirely as there are many attempting to clean up before the damage becomes too widespread. But those efforts are few and far between. Even worse, you continue your drilling at sea, knowing the consequences but not caring at all. You are so obsessed with your need of oil that the rest of the planet be damned.

We have had enough.

That is not the royal "we" either. The rest of the undersea world agrees. Even the Lemurians can tell this is the time to let go of our own issues and face the common foe: You. From the highest ranking of Atlantis to the lowliest seahorse, we are in agreement of how we are no longer going to put up with your surface world methods. Your heedless quest for that black sludge is hereby about to end.

The beeping sounds you hear throughout this chamber are no doubt the news from your various financial organizations informing you of my actions. As much as I dislike playing the game of surface nations, I have done so before. The wealth of the seas is vast, greater than you can possibly imagine. Every shipwreck, every cache of pirate treasure, every gold piece is mine to use. And I have used it or, more precisely, my disguised agents have used it.

As of twenty minutes ago, the twenty-five largest oil companies on this planet have been bought out. Furthermore, the assets of their major CEO's and executives have been co-opted into a fund to begin repairing the damage to the oceans, not just in the Gulf Coast but elsewhere. I do believe you can ascertain who has done this and why. What is the phrase so many of you are fond of saying?

Ah, yes. There is a new sheriff in town and I am he.

I am not heartless. I will still sell oil to your nations still. In fact, I am even willing to do so at much cheaper prices than you are used to. You may be muttering in outrage now but I suspect that when the local gas stations begin selling a dollar a galleon, I'll have much of the public approval on my side, not that such a thing concerns me. Oh and while I'm on the subject, the wholesale slaughter of whales and dolphins, particularly by Japan, is hereby ended. The blockade my troops have set around that island is temporary for now. Should their government deny my request, it shall be far more permanent.

But the drilling shall cease. That is non-negotiable. Any attempt at such an enterprise, whether it is approved or not, shall be met with the harshest force by the undersea community.

"What of our needs?" Is that what you ask? Take this as the opportunity to finally develop the alternate energy resources you have been discussing for so many decades. In my experience, humanity only changes when it is forced to. So I am forcing you to. Your time of blindly acting like oil is an endless resource is done as of this day. You have time to prepare new sources and I suggest you hurry. I suspect that when your populaces begin to endure blackouts, lack of gasoline and the loss of things like plastics and various methods to create designer clothes, their desire for new power will be quite loud, even without the use of Internet or cell phones.

You call this an act of war. It is not. An act of war would be my unleashing a tsunami large enough to turn Cleveland into oceanfront property. An act of war would be dropping Japan into the sea. At a thought, I can have a horde of undersea creatures who can wipe this city and your precious United Nations off the face of the Earth. I am attempting to give you the consideration you have never given us. Do not make me regret this mercy.

Send your soldiers, send your warriors, send your heroes. We control two-thirds of this planet. We have you surrounded. You know more of your moon than you do of my realm. You have no conception of the forces I have in my control. If you will not take the proper actions to keep this planet healthy, I shall do it for you. You made this choice, not I. I have no wish for this to escalate into destruction but if you force my hand, you will reap the consequences.

It is the law of the ocean, the rule life there has lived by since this world began. Sink or swim. Adapt or die. If it takes this to force you to accept this truth, so be it.

I am being merciful and understanding. I am letting you live your lives and perhaps be able to improve this wreck you call a civilization. Press me further, however….and you will know once more why I am called the Avenging Son.

Imperious Rex.


End file.
